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By Nikki Kossaris
Growing up in the Shumway house, Christmas was always a huge production. Every year, there was a tall, brightly lit tree that had plenty of hot chocolate sipped in front of it. Stockings were all hung by the chimney with care. My mother’s insistence that there was mistletoe hung over the doorways and her jokes about kissing under it that followed always made me uncomfortable, but she was a force to be reckoned with. My parents had the same plastic, light up outdoor decorations for as long as I could remember. The visits to Santa where I whispered in his ear every year whatever was my heart's desire and afterwards, Santa’s helpers always handed me a candy cane. The focus was on the magic of the season and presents, of course.
I was always aware that part of my family included Ashkenazi Jews who had practiced Judaism. As I entered my twenties the curiosity about my heritage increased. No one ever wanted to speak about the past and why we no longer practiced the faith or included any of the traditions. There was a time I hoped my parents would embrace some of it too. The last year I ever dared ask was the holiday season of my twenty-sixth year. My parents were still huge Christmas fans and still decked out the whole house. I was a little nervous about asking them to add a decoration or to participate in one of the many Hanukkah traditions.
“Mom, you know I’ve been researching our family. I was thinking we could add a Hannukah tradition to this year’s holiday celebration.”
“Really Rachel?” She sounded slightly exasperated but she did pause to think about it for a moment. “If I agree, I want you to finally come with me to Kringle’s Christmas Village.”
When I assented, Mom quickly changed the subject, and I was slightly satisfied by the thought of finding some Hanukkah décor. Later that night, when I was in my room, I thought I heard my mom on the phone. Again, my curiosity led me to go ask her who she was talking to so late in the night. “Mom, who were you just talking to?”
“What are you talking about?”
“On the phone, who were you just talking to?”
“I wasn’t on the phone, Rachel. Go back to bed, we have an early morning.”
Not wanting to argue, I went back to my room and soon after fell to sleep.
Kringle’s Christmas Village was only a thirty-minute drive from my hometown, but I had never been. A town full of Christmas cheer sounded way too cheesy; I hated crowds, and maybe a part of me knew something was wrong with it all. I would rather have poked my eyeballs with a sharpened candy cane than deal with that type of energy. That said, I was mildly excited about finding that decoration and some kind of dessert, so the sharpened candy cane was forgotten.
While driving into town my mom’s excitement was of the contagious kind. “Oh Rachel, isn’t it dreamy?” All I could do was nod my head yes. A town lived in and run by crafters that specialized in Christmas does not disappoint. We stopped in several of the shops on the main street as we made our way to the tented shopping booths. One of the shops was full of ceramic Christmas village pieces handmade by the shop owner. I must admit they did beautiful work.
The snow globe shop consumed most of our time that day. I used to think they were so fascinating. The snow globes that play music and depict wooded, snowy scenes were always my favorite. This one plays the tune, “Santa Baby.” The realism is uncanny, but I should not be surprised. If you look at it closely you will see the man with the dark hair in the red and black buffalo plaid shirt and the other person in the green Fair Isle sweater with a navy-blue hat with a big poof ball. That is exactly what I was wearing that day. The man, I would meet him about fifteen minutes later.
Tented outdoor vendors lined a gravel filled lot at one end of the main street. A few of the vendors had Christmas trees covered in individual ornaments for sale. Christmas music was being piped around town through the light poles. One tree in particular towards the back of the lot caught my attention with a flash of gold. My mom was following behind me as my curiosity pulled me towards the tree and what was the perfect Star of David. As I reached up to grab the ornament off the tree, another hand grabbed for it too. I turned to my right and saw a dark-haired man in buffalo plaid. We were both laughing, neither one of us removing our hands. “Hi, I’m Rachel,” I said as I reached to shake his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Rachel. I’m Evan.” He put his hand in mine with a large smile on his handsome face.
“This is beginning to feel like a Hallmark movie.” Christmas, wintery outfits, a cute guy, and the almost perfect village.
Evan pulled me closer. “That doesn’t sound like a bad thing.” As we continued to hold hands after shaking them, I began to feel unwell. Maybe I need to have something to eat. Trying to find my mom in the crowd as I began to feel dizzy, I could hear “Santa Baby” playing now. Why can’t I see her? She was just behind me. I began to fall right into Evan’s arms and his face was the last thing I saw...
♪♪♪
Until I opened my eyes and I was in a room I had never seen before. I heard a deep voice say, “Good morning baby.” As I rolled onto my left side, the guy from the tree—the ornament—came into view. Evan. I started to roll back over but Evan put his hand on my hip to stop the roll. He leaned down and kissed me. I was wearing green silky slip like pajamas. It went beautifully with my red hair. I didn’t know what was going on, but this felt right. He kissed my neck and whispered in my ear, “I’m going to make us breakfast. Do not leave this bed until everything has been finished.” This cannot be real.
This must be a dream. I cupped my hand in front of my mouth to smell my breath and it smelled minty. My hair looked expertly styled. I pinched myself. I could feel it. Though it was all through a haze, like I was wrapped in cotton. Thoughts were coming slowly but I felt a confidence I rarely did in real life. This is how my dreams feel. I was going wherever my subconscious led.
Evan walked through the bedroom door with a bright smile and carrying a tray that held two full plates of fluffy waffles. A little container of my favorite peanut butter, thick crispy bacon, real maple syrup and cut up pieces of strawberries mixed with blueberries, a carafe of coffee and some cream joined my favorite breakfast. This felt luxurious. The best tasting waffles of my life. Evan and I were laughing and talking as we ate. When we were done eating, Evan stooped and looked into my eyes. I leaned over and kissed him, and he was kissing me back. I pressed my body against his. He pulled away, looking back in my eyes, “We should get dressed for the big meeting; we have a busy day ahead of us.”
“Who are we meeting again?” I asked since this must have been a dream and my knowledge was limited. “Hon, it’s the big meeting where we vote against the Super Mega Store opening in the village.” I smiled at him, and he kissed me quickly on the cheek. We dressed in jeans, sweaters and cute knitted hats that made us look like we had been plucked right from a Hallmark movie.
We walked along the sidewalk taking in the Christmas decorations. “The Village did a particularly splendid job decorating this year. Don’t you think Rach? It makes me feel jolly just looking at it.”
“They sure did, hon.” It was cold but the sun was out, and we were holding hands. Before we opened the double doors to the hall, he squeezed my hand. I walked with him to the table set up to register the voters. The older man and woman behind the table knew who we were.
“Ah, The Johnson’s are here!” the woman says too loudly. Damn, she’s excited about this. After I got the ballot for Rachel Johnson, I headed to the voting booth.
Still not convinced with the voting, I would vote in my dream. I didn’t remember going home after grabbing the Star of David. Dreams never make sense, Rach. I was going to ride this dream as far as it went. My husband and I were voting no on the Super Mega Store.
But this was my dream and I liked a little chaos, so I voted yes. I had no idea what these other things were, filling in random bubbles until the ballot was full. After depositing the ballot in the locked box, I waited for Evan.
Evan inserted his ballot and grabbed my hand. He pulled me into his chest, hugging me for several minutes. He leaned down and kissed me. His lips tasted like a candy cane. I almost didn’t notice the way he frowned as though disappointed in me. I licked mine afterwards, savoring the minty taste and starting to feel lightheaded. I then noticed that the town hall was playing Christmas music and recognized “Santa Baby” as I was again falling into Evan.
The last thing I heard was a sigh. “It’s a shame you failed the test. You would have made for a lovely Mrs. Claus.”
♪♪♪
This time when I woke up, I could not move. My arms, legs and head were strapped into a chair. My eyes were somehow being held open. This seemed more like my usual dreams. With limited movement I could see a movie screen in front of me and another person strapped in a chair to my right. The other person was struggling against their bonds, and a second later, Evan walked from my left. “Ladies, you are going to be here awhile. You are going to watch twenty-four hours of Christmas movies to give you back your holly-jolly Christmas spirit.” That was when I noticed Evan’s sweater had Santa in his sleigh being pulled by toy stuffed reindeer that appeared to be flying across a star filled sky. The damned thing even lit up. All I could think was, What in the Christmas hell is going on?
To my joy, the other person strapped in the chair spat at Evan. The smile never left his face as saliva sprayed all over it. Wiping it off with the sleeve of that awful sweater and still speaking in that overly jolly tone, Evan said, “Michelle, now I will have to gag both of you.”
Being limited in communication, we were left with only quick glances out of the corner of our eyes. As the movie viewing commenced, the glances increased, not daring to look for too long lest Evan catch us. Seeing each other out of the corner of our eyes made the twenty-four hours less brutal. Between each movie, Evan would come in and put eye drops in our eyes giving us tidbits of information. “Rachel and Michelle, we are a Chris Kringle loving group that volunteers to help rehabilitate people who no longer believe in Santa and have lost their Christmas spirit through traditional holiday fun.” Evan was quick to let us know we always had a choice. If we cooperated and showed we believed in Santa, we could go back home. Otherwise, we were stuck in some Hallmark Christmas story hell and would be punished.
Michelle and I were thrilled to no longer be strapped to the chair and have some freedom once the twenty-four hours were over. We were so thrilled we hugged. It was like something woke up in me in that moment. As we pulled apart Michelle spoke first. “It’s nice to officially meet you Rachel, I usually go on a few dates first before I look into someone’s eyes that long.” We both laughed but it was a sound closer to terror.
Evan quickly interrupted us. “For your first test, you will be making delicious sugar cookies in the shape of our beloved Santa, stockings, and Christmas trees. If you decide not to participate, we will have no choice but to take you back to the theater. You will have another twenty-four-hour long session. Do not try to escape. The town is fully armed.” Michelle grabbed my hand and gasped quietly. “There are armed Elves guarding the perimeter, that’s what we devotees call ourselves by the way, and we patrol from the sky riding Santa’s reindeer.” We were both hungry and the freedom of not being strapped down felt too much like a gift to pass up, so we just did as he said.
Ethan walked us into a fully stocked kitchen and left, locking the door behind him.
Michelle had a great idea. As she cocked her hip to the side she asked me to play a game. “This kitchen is full of ingredients. Why don’t we have some fun? While we are mixing the cookie dough, whoever finds the ingredient first gets to eat a chocolate chip. What do you say?”
I was hungry and thought some fun in the kitchen would score us some points with these Elves. “You’re on!” Racing around the kitchen had us really giggling, we almost forgot what we were doing there. As we ran around looking for the vanilla, we ran right into each other. We both fell back and onto our butts on the floor. Lying there laughing for a bit, Michelle stood up first and reached down to grab my hand and help pull me back up. I was the one who found the last ingredient. Michelle walked over to me and put the chip in my mouth. It was the most romantic moment of my life. We decorated the cookies after they were cool from the oven, squirting frosting into our mouths as we went along. I decorated a stocking for Michelle. Excited to show her, I lifted the cookie up, “Tadah!” Michelle smiled brightly at me, lifting up her own cookie. It was a stocking too, but with my name written on it.
We talked about Christmas making cookies as kids. Michelle grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home but they did make other types of cookies. As we finished decorating the last few, an Elf came in. They motioned us into the next room not speaking a word. We followed them into a room with a crafting table full of present wrapping material. A second table at the back of the room was full of presents. The elf spoke, finally, “You must wrap these presents to look perfectly festive under the tree. I must warn you: if you fail, you will be sent back to the very beginning.” The hours wrapping felt like minutes as we sang Christmas Carols. Some carols I had to teach Michelle, but I had never had this much fun in my life. We even got up and danced around the room. Was I still drugged? This isn’t like me.
When we were finished wrapping, another Elf handed us matching candy cane striped pajamas and pointed to rooms off to the side we could change in. Shrugging at each other, we parted ways. I came out of my dressing room first to encounter a tree set up in the middle of the room. Michelle soon exited her changing room and shouted, “Holy crap!” Boxes of ornaments and lights had been spread across the room. The cookies we had decorated and mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows sat on a small table set up near the tree. We sampled the cookies and hot chocolate while decorating. We knew the drill by this point it seemed, so the elf stayed quiet. Once they were satisfied we were participating, they left the room just as quietly.
It seemed like hundreds of Santa ornaments were on the tree now. Then, we plugged in the tree light string and lit the whole tree up. I turned off the lights and headed towards Michelle who was standing in front of the tree now. She held my hand as we stared at the tree. Life had never felt so right. We turn to look at each other and it seemed like we might kiss, but Michelle fell to the ground. Of course, we were drugged again, I thought as I too started falling.
I woke up to the noise of Michelle calling my name while pounding on the closed door. I quickly got up out of the bed I was magically in. We went together to the main room where the tree was set up. It looked like Santa came since there were two presents that we did not wrap sitting under the tree. We held our breaths as we began opening our individual presents. Inside both boxes was a certificate that read:
Congratulations, you have completed Elf training. You must take this certificate to guard gate 2. At said gate, you will pledge allegiance to always believe in Santa Claus. This includes decorating for Christmas every year. If you are unable to fulfill your pledge, there will be consequences.
Michelle and I quickly changed and ran to guard gate 2. You better believe we pledged allegiance to Santa Claus. The Elven guards congratulated us and handed over our phones. Once we were completely out of the area fenced off for the reeducation center, Michelle and I stopped for a moment and finally got that kiss. Talk about a Hallmark movie moment. “Michelle, who were you here with? I am asking because I’m here with my mom. I think we should try to call our people, but I want you to come home with me.”
“Sounds like a plan.” She then grabbed my hand “I’m glad you want to stay together too.”
I called my mom, who didn’t sound concerned. “Are you alright Rachel?”
“I am now. Mom, can you come and pick me and my friend up at Kringle’s Christmas Village?”
“You and your friend? Okay, I will be there as soon as I can.”
I did not understand at the time why she didn’t sound worried. Michelle walked back over to me and reported almost the same conversation with her gentile friends. “Want to grab something to eat in town, Rach?”
“Yes, let’s get as far away from this place as we can.”
“I saw a small café towards the edge of town that would be perfect.” We walked as quickly as possible to the café. I texted mom once we had gotten our food and had found a table close to the window so she would know where to find us.
“She’s here,” I told Michelle once my mom pulled up in front of the café. We quickly put our coats back on and cleaned up the mess. My mom got out to greet us. “Hi girls, why don’t you get in the car and then we can talk.” In agreement, we quickly hopped into the backseat.
“Rachel, who is your friend?”
“Mom, this is Michelle.”
“Hi Michelle, I am Barbara Shumway. You can call me Babs.” As my mom pulled out of town, Michelle and I looked out the back window. The scene as we drove away from the deceptively joyful town looked just like the one depicted in the snow globe laying on this floor. In fact, I am sure it is the village. Mom then said, “Now ladies, you understand what the pledge means, right?” It suddenly dawned on me why she had not been concerned. I remembered her lying to me about making a phone call the night before visiting the village. Since neither one of us answered her, my mother continued on. “We were just trying to protect you. Your dad and I both have taken the pledge.” This broke my heart, and as I tried not to cry, Michelle reached over and took my hand.
Michelle and I have been together ever since. I have not spent a night without her in the last twenty years. With my years of music lessons, I thought choir director would be the perfect activity. I never thought we would make it to the finals. We have sung a lot of Santa themed songs throughout the years, but not “Santa Baby.” Never “Santa Baby.”
I fear this is all my fault and they are here for me.
